Bhanupriya (born Manga Bhanu; 15 January 1967) is an Indian actress and dancer. In a four decade old career, she has appeared in 155 feature films, predominantly in

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India ** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language. * Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...

and

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

, and a few in

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...

Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...

and

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

films. She has starred in a variety of roles, which garnered her three state

Nandi Awards The Nandi Awards are annual awards presented by the Government of Andhra Pradesh to recognise excellence in Telugu cinema, theatre, and television, as well as lifetime achievements in Indian cinema. The awards are named after the monolithic ...

, two

Tamil Nadu State Film Awards Tamil Nadu State Film Awards were given for excellence in Cinema of Tamil Nadu, Tamil cinema in India. They were given annually to honour the best talents and provide encouragement and incentive to the South Indian film industry by the Governmen ...

, two

Filmfare Awards South The Filmfare Awards South are annual awards that honour artistic and technical excellence in the Telugu cinema, Tamil cinema, Malayalam cinema and Kannada cinema. They are presented by ''Filmfare'' magazine of The Times Group. When it was intr ...

and two

Cinema Express Awards Cinema Express Awards are presented annually by Indian Express Group on behalf of Cinema Express film magazine to honour artistic excellence of professionals in the south Indian film industry which comprises Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayala ...

Early life

Bhanupriya was born on 15 January 1967 in

Rangampeta Rangam-peta is a village and a Mandal in East Godavari district in the state of Andhra Pradesh in India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, sevent ...

village near

Rajahmundry Rajahmundry ( ), officially Rajamahendravaram, is a city in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and district headquarters of East Godavari district. It is the fifth most populated city in the state. During British rule, the district of Rajahmu ...

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...

in a

-speaking family, to Pandu Babu and Ragamali. She was named Mangabhanu after birth. Her family later moved to

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

. She has an elder brother Gopikrishana and a younger sister

Shantipriya Shanthipriya is an Indian actress and a dancer who has worked predominantly in Tamil language, Tamil ,Telugu language, Telugu and Hindi films. She is credited as Nishanthi in Tamil films and Shanthipriya in Telugu and Hindi films. She is the you ...

, who has also been a film actress since the 1990s.

Career

She was one of the top mainstream actresses for more than a decade from 1983 to 1995. She was originally chosen to be the lead actress for ''Thooral Ninnu Pochchu (1982)'' after Bhagyaraj spotted her at a dance school, but after the photoshoot he felt she looked too young for this role and she was replaced by Sulakshana thus made her acting debut with the Tamil film '' Mella Pesungal'' (1983). She then appeared in the Telugu hit ''

Sitaara ''Sitaara'' () is a 1984 Indian Telugu-language drama film written and directed by Vamsy. It marks the debut of Bhanupriya in Telugu cinema and is based on Vamsy's own novel ''Mahal lo Kokila'' (). The film explores the friendship between two in ...

'', which won the

National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Telugu The National Film Award for Best Telugu Feature Film is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the National Film Development Corporation of India. It is one of several awards presented for feature films and awarded with Rajat Kam ...

for that year. She then played an

ornithologist Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related discip ...

in the 1985 mystery film ''

Anveshana ''Anveshana'' () is a 1985 Indian Telugu language, Telugu-language Mystery film, mystery thriller film written and directed by Vamsy. The film stars Karthik (actor), Karthik, Bhanupriya, Kaikala Satyanarayana, and Sarath Babu, with music compo ...

''. In 1986, she made her Hindi film debut with '' Dosti Dushmani''. In 1988, she appeared in ''

Swarnakamalam ''Swarnakamalam'' () is a 1988 Indian Telugu language, Telugu-language dance film written and directed by K. Viswanath. The film stars Venkatesh (actor), Venkatesh and Bhanupriya in the lead, while Sharon Lowen appears in a special role. The fil ...

'', which was screened at the Indian panorama section of the 1988

International Film Festival of India The International Film Festival of India (IFFI), founded in 1952, is an annual film festival currently held in Goa, on the western coast of India. The festival aims at providing a common platform for the cinemas of the world to project the excel ...

and the

Ann Arbor Film Festival The Ann Arbor Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Established in 1963, it is the fourth-oldest film festival in North America (after the Yorkton Film Festival, 1947; Columbus International Film & Video Festival, 19 ...

. Bhanupriya received the Indian Express Award for Best Actress, the

Nandi Award for Best Actress The Nandi Award for Best Actress was commissioned in 1977. The winner is awarded a "Silver Nandi" and a cash award of 30,000. Superlatives The Actresses with most wins are listed in total order List of winners of Nandi Awards for Best Actress ...

, and the

Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Telugu The Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Telugu is given by the ''Filmfare'' magazine as part of its annual Filmfare Awards South for Telugu films. The awards were extended to "Best Actress" in 1972. The year indicates the year of release of th ...

for her performance in the film. In 1989 and 1991, her performances in the Tamil hits '' Aararo Aariraro,'' and ''

Azhagan ''Azhagan'' () () is a 1991 Indian Tamil-language drama film directed by K. Balachander and produced by Kovai Chezhiyan. It stars Mammootty in the lead role with an ensemble supporting cast, including Bhanupriya, Geetha, Madhoo (in her Tam ...

'' brought her the

Tamil Nadu State Film Award Special Prize Recipients Here is a list of the award winners and the films for which they won. * The year mentioned refers to the year in which the films released. This is the list of Winners of Jury's Special Award See also * Tamil cinema * Cinema of Indi ...

s, respectively. She received the JFW Divas of South India Award for her contribution to South Indian cinema, the Gemini TV Puraskaram for lifetime achievement in television and various other honours.

Personal life

Bhanupriya married Adarsh Kaushal, a digital graphics engineer, at the Sri Venkateswara temple in

Malibu, California Malibu ( ; ; ) is a beach city in the Santa Monica Mountains region of Los Angeles County, California, about west of downtown Los Angeles. It is known for its Mediterranean climate, its strip of beaches stretching along the Pacific Ocean coa ...

, on 14 June 1998. The couple has a daughter, Abhinaya, born in 2002. Bhanupriya returned to India, and resumed her acting career. She lives in

with her daughter. Kaushal died in 2018 after suffering a cardiac arrest.

Filmography

Film

Acting roles

Dubbing artist

* *

Television

Awards

;

(in

) *

Best Actress Best Actress is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organisations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actresses in a film, television series, television film or play. The first Best Actress award ...

- ''

Swarna Kamalam ''Swarnakamalam'' () is a 1988 Indian Telugu-language dance film written and directed by K. Viswanath. The film stars Venkatesh and Bhanupriya in the lead, while Sharon Lowen appears in a special role. The film is about a danseuse daughter of ...

'' (1988) * Best Character Actress - ''

Lahiri Lahiri Lahirilo ''Lahiri Lahiri Lahirilo ''is a 2002 Indian Telugu-language musical-family drama film written, directed and produced by YVS Chowdary under the banner ''Bommarillu.'' The film stars four pairs Nandamuri Harikrishna, Bhanupriya, Suman, Rachana ...

'' (2002) * Best Supporting Actress - '' Chatrapati'' (2005) ;

* Best Actress - Telugu in 1988 for her performance in ''

'' * Best Actress - Tamil in 1989 for her performance in ''

Aararo Aaariraro ''Aararo Aariraro'' is a 1989 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film, written and directed by K. Bhagyaraj, starring himself and Bhanupriya. It was released on 27 November 1989. Bhanupriya won the Tamil Nadu State Film Award Special Prize, ...

'' ;Other Awards *

in 1989 for the film ''

'' *

in 1991 for the film ''

'' *

in 1996 for the film ''

Peddarayudu ''Pedarayudu'' is a 1995 Indian Telugu language, Telugu-language drama film directed and co-written by Ravi Raja Pinisetty and starring Mohan Babu in the lead in a dual role, while Rajinikanth, Bhanupriya and Soundarya appear in other prominent ...

'' * Screen Videocon Award for the television serial Shakti. * JFW Divas of South - Awarded on 12 October 2012 by Just for Women magazine for her contribution to south Indian cinema.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bhanupriya Living people 20th-century Indian actresses Actresses in Telugu cinema Indian film actresses Actresses from Andhra Pradesh Actresses in Kannada cinema Actresses in Malayalam cinema Actresses in Tamil cinema Nandi Award winners Actresses from Rajahmundry Telugu actresses Kuchipudi exponents 21st-century Indian actresses Actresses in Hindi cinema Indian voice actresses Women artists from Andhra Pradesh Singers from Andhra Pradesh Dancers from Andhra Pradesh Indian female classical dancers 20th-century Indian women singers 20th-century Indian singers Actresses in Telugu television Actresses in Tamil television Actresses in Hindi television 1967 births